Already I have been thinking alot about continuing on my no-yarn-buying-total-stash-busting trend for 2011, but to be truthful, as happy as I am about having stuck to my goal for a whole year (that's nothing to sneeze at!) I know that I am weakening, and while I still have much in my stash, I am thinking to revise the goal slightly to allow for a small select amount of buying for 2011.
What I am talking about is something that was discussed in Knitters Review discussed back in 2008 - Slow Stashing. The idea appeals to me very seriously as a new way to continue to stash bust and yet enjoy the occassional foray into my LYS's without completely deprived and like I really had no right to be in there window shopping.
In some areas of my stash I am almost ready to do another purge as I am getting to colors or yarns (mostly gifted from other stash busters during my early knitting years) I just don't know what to do with. I feel like purging un-loved yarns from my stash earns me some yarn-buying credit. I'll be sending the yarn to a local school knitting club. More brownie points!
I have learned throughout this past year that I can control my yarn buying impulses, and not add yarns to my stash that I don't have an immediate purpose for, and so that keeps room in my stash to buy only yarn I know I can use.
I have been carrying about a huge guilt trip that I have not been supporting my LYS's this past year, and in such a bad economy this is an important concern of every knitter, if we want to have the quality and selection available to us that knitters are clammering for. But that doesn't mean I can abandon my own economic responsibilities to myself and my family budget and begin to buy willy-nilly again.I learned some great lessons in self restraint this past year, and that money not spent on OMG-I-love-this-even-though-I-have-know-idea-what-I-am-going-to-do-with-it yarn, means I have money in my pocket and space in my yarn storage for projects and yarn I know what I want to do with.
Instead I need to completely and fully adopt the Slow Stash Movement. And this is it, direct from Knitters Review: "At its core, slow stashing involves being mindful of every skein we own, and only bringing in new skeins that are truly deserving of our time, our attention, and our resources." Finally a stash management option I can really buy into (and use to resist the sale signs!).
I have the skills, I have the discipline, and I have the desire to have a well managed, well thought out, and well turned-over stash. This is exactly the right objective for me to embrace for 2011. Phew! And I thought making a new stash resolution was going to be very hard after the rocking success of 2010!
Knit on......
Sunday 21 November 2010
Saturday 6 November 2010
Still here!
I am definitely still here! Apoligies for the lengthy absence. Life got a whole lot busier this last month. I had forgotten how much stuff there is to do when you can walk! Yes, I am walking around without my cane, finally, and that means I am back at the gym three times a week, along with the never ending physio (those people love their job way, way too much). It certainly makes for a busy week when you move as slowly as I still do!
And the G-man has been away on business for the past almost three weeks, so DD1 and I have had to fend for ourselves, which means..... I have been cooking. OMG, yes, I had to re-discover the stove. Interesting device. I still don`t like it very much but we managed, and I even lost 2 more pounds - when you have to make everything yourself you tend to be more moderate in your portions so you get two meals from every cooking session!!
In between I have been knitting and even started some Christmas knitting, using of course, stash yarn, in this case my leftover balls of baby bamboo yarns in various colors. I have been stash busting and working on other WIP`s in between.
Take a look at the gorgeous pashmina scarf from Scotland my dear friend Heather gave me for my birthday, and the great yarn that matched up and made a lovely beret (or Scottish Tam!) to match:
I also finshed several charity baby blankets - my latest method of speed knitting these little utility blankets is on the diagonal, adding a stich at each end until the blanket is about 36 inches on any one side, and then decreasing one stitch at each end, which allows me to crank these out while watching tv as well as use up my stash of less than desirable acrylic colors:
In more stash busting I whipped out another cowl from a skien of lovely handspun I won a year or two back at Guild - just the thing for Ottawa`s icey cold winter winds:
And these too, cosy wristlets from Taos yarn, to match a previously made beret and scarf - used the yarn to the last 6 inches!:
And last, but most importantly, can I tell you what wonderful friends knitters are I received this awesome skein from my friends Laurie of Nepean, found over here on Ravelry, and Lise, both from the Guild, who picked it up from a Janie H. Knits fieldtrip that I had been unable to mamage while still on my crutches. Just my colors, earthy, tweedy and simply lovely, and made even more so because of how it came to me! Talk about a pick-me-up! Thanks Laurie & Lise!:
And so you are now pretty much all caught up. Monday I begin the gradual transition back to the working world, having worked out a return to work plan for the next few weeks, and arranged some premium front door parking for the winter! i am ready, at least my head is ready - I hope my leg is too!
Knit on........
And the G-man has been away on business for the past almost three weeks, so DD1 and I have had to fend for ourselves, which means..... I have been cooking. OMG, yes, I had to re-discover the stove. Interesting device. I still don`t like it very much but we managed, and I even lost 2 more pounds - when you have to make everything yourself you tend to be more moderate in your portions so you get two meals from every cooking session!!
In between I have been knitting and even started some Christmas knitting, using of course, stash yarn, in this case my leftover balls of baby bamboo yarns in various colors. I have been stash busting and working on other WIP`s in between.
Take a look at the gorgeous pashmina scarf from Scotland my dear friend Heather gave me for my birthday, and the great yarn that matched up and made a lovely beret (or Scottish Tam!) to match:
I also finshed several charity baby blankets - my latest method of speed knitting these little utility blankets is on the diagonal, adding a stich at each end until the blanket is about 36 inches on any one side, and then decreasing one stitch at each end, which allows me to crank these out while watching tv as well as use up my stash of less than desirable acrylic colors:
In more stash busting I whipped out another cowl from a skien of lovely handspun I won a year or two back at Guild - just the thing for Ottawa`s icey cold winter winds:
And so you are now pretty much all caught up. Monday I begin the gradual transition back to the working world, having worked out a return to work plan for the next few weeks, and arranged some premium front door parking for the winter! i am ready, at least my head is ready - I hope my leg is too!
Knit on........
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